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Petros Indeed, I think you can say it was brave, but on the other side he needed to sacrifice himself for the Duke and all in all the Duke is more important than Richard. Yes, I acutely didn’t consider that it might be this dangerous tot eh Duke also, had forgotten about such an situation, but it worked out well so I think as long as it ended well all is well

GhostWriter Indeed, you got it half right
I see you are certain that the Cardinal is responsible, but remember there are others in France that also would want to make the life bad for people in France

J. Passepartout Yes, i don’t think he know… but when an attack like this happens I think he will soon know.

stnylan Yes, it is a very tricky situation and there is little Jean can do. Well although staying still might not be the best idea I don’t think Jean has that much of a choice he needs to rest and heal and he needs to allow for his men to rest and take care of their wounds…

coz1 Yes I think it is a good twist Also I think it is too early to take the Baron out of the story, I am certain he still has a role to play in all this. Actually I don’t think they wanted to grab the Queen…

kingmbutu Well the Cardinal is preparing for war against the rebels and when those rebels are having fun in France they might convince other people to joint he fun… So I think that is a safe bet

All Well as we now all know both the Duke, the Barona and Jean are doing well although they need some rest and to heal some wounds. So while we leave them on their way to Calais waiting for the English escorts we go away and visits and old friend
Working on it now, should have it prepared within an hour

He listened carefully while the man repeated his story for the second time. He hadn’t believed it the first time so he had forced the man to tell the story once again. As the man finished his tale, he grabbed a paper and ripped it to pieces with his hands. Then while smashing his hand in the desk he walked towards the captain.

”So they managed to grab the Duke?”

“That is what they tell me Your Eminence…Again Your Eminence we would never have expected them to act this quickly and this far north.”

”Oh I am not worry about the Duke, allow them to take care of him… What I fear is the princess. Charles wouldn’t be happy to hear that His Queen never arrives in England!

As for the Duke I think everything goes just as planned…. Huguenots I presume?”

”Yes, Your Eminence it seems it is the Duke of Rohan…”

”The silly Duke attacking his one friend in the world… As I said allow them to take care of Buckingham that will save us the trouble…

But I fear when they understand what they have done they will releases him. We can only hope that they have finished him off first…

”Splendid… we can only hope they will kill the “cardinal” before they notices it is not Richelieu they have got, but in fact Buckingham. I think it is time to leave Paris for now. There are certain matters to attend to…”

”Matters Your Eminence? “

”Indeed… But you just continue your work; remember you told me you would have Rohan’s head here within the end of June… The time is running.

Now I think it is time to travel north and see if I can find an “old friend” let us hope he is not alive…

This may be the Cardinal's first miscaclulation - or at least his first public one. Privately I would not be surprised if he suspected Buckingham's machinations.

To view is human, to comment is divine.
"Be not afraid" - John Paul II
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
Current AAR: Stories of King Sean CK2 4.1
Completed AAR: In Memory of France EU2
View my full AAR list at The InkwellMy library and My blog
Ask not what AARland can do for you, but what you can do for AARland.

Lord E: ...”...As for the Duke I think everything goes just as planned…. Huguenots I presume?”...”The silly Duke attacking his one friend in the world… As I said allow them to take care of Buckingham that will save us the trouble…”

it really does not make sense that the Huguenots would do anything to harm the Duke of Buckingham. even the Cardinal knows that Buckingham is the one true friend of the Huguenots.

that said, the only reason that the Huguenots would capture Buckingham would be to try to force his hand into an "alliance". which means that he is in safe hands.

that said, all they can (safely) do when they find out that they have Richard is to return Richard to Buckingham...

anyway, i must admit that a lot of this update is not understood by me...

excellent update ! !

B an 0:-), make someone happy, :-) GhostWriter :-)

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in." . . . - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Berlin, 1961

"Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." - not sure

Storey Neither do I, but it is impossible to know what happens in the future
Well if the Cardinal thinks so I am not sure about, but he hopes so…

stnylan As you say the Cardinal says one thing, but in the end he might actually have a suspicion, it is just that he wants to keep it hidden from his men. The Cardinal is the kind of person that doesn’t’ trust anyone else than himself

coz1 Yes, they Cardinal wanted to make them think they had got the Cardinal… But I guess they will be surprised when they find out who they have got, if they finds out that is… after all Richard might decide just to speak English and wait to see if anyone understand what he is saying

J. Passepartout I don’t think they will be very happy when they find that out…

kingmbutu I think that is very much correct, the Cardinal has a hidden agenda. He wants war with the Huguenots to exterminate them from France and he wants to stop England from aiding other Protestants so why not have them destroy each other. Would make things much easier for the Cardinal if they did…

GhostWriter Of course if they understand who they have got/think they have to is not the Cardinal, they will probably not harm him. The Cardinal was only hoping they would kill their prisoner before asking who he really was

Well there are some hidden messages in this update that I hoped you all wouldn’t understand as I want to keep it hidden for now and maybe tell you more in the future. There is no point in making you understand everything at once is it, it is much better to leave you wondering and longing for more

All Well this update might have left some of you wondering and that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to show some, but at the same time leaves some hidden clues and messages so that you wouldn’t understand all just now. I was hoping that would work to get you even more hooked he he
But in time all hidden messages will be made clear.

For now I guess you are all longing to see how Richard is doing? I though it would be nice to see if he is doing well in captivity or what is going on. Working on the next update now and hope to have it ready within an hour, but I am watching Champions League football (that is Soccer for all you Americans) and if they game gets very good the writing might take some more time

Richard was sitting still watching the sky. The sun had just appeared after several days of rain and Richard though it was nice to feel the warmth from the sun on his face once again. He had to enjoy it now, because he didn’t know when he would ever to able to enjoy the fresh wind and the sun in England again. Turning his head around he watched his guard sit around the fire obviously cooking their breakfast, from what Richard could see it seemed like it was some kind of animal they had captured that was now boiling in the pot on the fire.

Thinking back Richard couldn’t complain, they had been very nice and reasonable to him. But he still didn’t like sitting still all night and day tied to a tree.

While the men seemed busy with their food Richard allowed his mind to wander back to the night he had been captured. Jean had been fighting away from the wagon against a huge attacker that tried to kill him. Inside the wagon the Queen had been screaming and it was then the Duke had asked if Richard would be willing to change clothes and pretend to be the Duke. Richard knowing the importance of the Duke to England agreed at once, this was something they had also done before and there were many in England that said that Richard looked much like the Duke from behind and on distance when he was wearing the fine clothes signalling nobility and status.

It was therefore when a large group of them had approached the wagon that the Duke had left through the side door while he had tried to fight against them, but it didn’t last long before one of them had knocked him down and when he returned to life some minutes later he found himself tied with a rope and being carried away. He could see Jean and the others trying to run after them, he noticed one of them men carrying him fall having been shot, but more attackers arrived to take his place and Richard was unable to do anything to stop them from running away with him. The last thing he saw was Jean being knocked to the ground by one of the attackers and then the attacker himself had fallen to the ground, he had obviously been shot. Richard could only pray his friend was doing fine.

As one of the men approached Richard, Richard returned to reality. The man spoke to him first in French, but Richard did as he had done ever since he had been captured pretend not to understand French and then laugh on the inside while listening to the Frenchman’s horrible English.

”Food… Zu will eat…”

”Yes, thank you. I would like some food. What are you serving today?”

”What… Me no understood.”

By God… Food, what?”

”Oui, oui… good food… Rabbitz…”

”Sounds nice…”

Richard could only laugh when the man tried to speak English, but at first he had actually been quit surprised that this man that the others called Your Grace were even able to speak English. For now Richard had decided to pretend not to understand French that would probably be much better. He wonder why the leader was called Your Grace though, Richard could hardly think there were any French Duke that would live in the woods like an outlaw. But on the other side he seemed to have a well organized operation showing what Richard thought to be military and campaign experience…

”We go today? Or stay here?”

”Oui, Oui… go. We go… La Rochelle…”

Richard reacted at once at the man’s words, La Rochelle… He remembered the Duke speaking about La Rochelle; it was supposed to be the main city of the Huguenots. Maybe he had not been trapped by outlaws, maybe these were Huguenots.

”La Rochelle… Hugenots? You Hungeots?”

”Oui, we Huguenots. We kill Catholics and Richelieu…”

”Really… I am a Protestant... Protestant. Martin Luther?”

”Ah oui, Luther. Good, not good like Calvin, but good. Why you with Richelieu?”

”Damn it… How many times will I have to explain?

I am not Richelieu, not Richelieu!

Trying to make the Frenchmen understand Richard pointed to himself while saying not Richelieu several times.

”Oui... You no Richelieu. He other man…

”Yes.. Oui. I am not Richelieu!”

”Who you are?”

”Have you heard of the Duke of Buckingham. I am his…”

”Buckingham… BUCKINGHAM! YOU DUKE BUCKINGHAM!”

Richard let out a heavy breath, and tried to think about how to explain to the Frenchman he wasn’t the Duke, but then an idea came to him. Why not play along?”

”Yes, I am the Duke of Buckingham.”

”Buckingham… Sacre Bleu!

Richard could see the other man smile, and then he smiled back. It seemed he would continue playing the Duke for some more time, it seemed like the only clever thing to do for now. For now it seemed like being the Duke would keep him alive and make his captivity a little better. So as they brought him breakfast Richard just continued to smile while saying to himself: For now I am the Duke of Buckingham!

To view is human, to comment is divine.
"Be not afraid" - John Paul II
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
Current AAR: Stories of King Sean CK2 4.1
Completed AAR: In Memory of France EU2
View my full AAR list at The InkwellMy library and My blog
Ask not what AARland can do for you, but what you can do for AARland.

Lord E: ...Richard let out a heavy breath, and tried to think about how to explain to the Frenchman he wasn’t the Duke, but then an idea came to him. Why not play along?”

probably because you don't have the ring (?, seal ?) to back it up ? ?

Lord E: ..”.. Sacre Bleu!

this means ? ?

Lord E:...For now I am the Duke of Buckingham!

well, time will tell if this was a good idea ! !

Lord E: ..”..Why you with Richelieu?”

i missed this the first time through. that explains the fierceness of the attack. except, how could they see the personal "flag" of the Cardinal at night ? ? also, why would not the Frenchmen (the Baron, Jean, et.al.) notice that "flag" while they were traveling during the day, if that were the case...

also, it seems to me that "this man..called Your Grace" would know that the Duke of Buckingham could speak French... hmmm. why would any thief in France dare to attack the Cardinal, or anyone associated with him ? ?

magnificent update ! !

B an 0:-), make someone happy, :-) GhostWriter :-)

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in." . . . - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Berlin, 1961

"Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." - not sure

stnylan Yes, it might be dangerous, but I think for now Richard sees it as his best chance…

Storey Of course meeting some of the Cardinal’s soldiers and ending up with a sword through your chest wouldn’t be a nice way to end it, let us hope Richard is able to avoid ending up like that

GhostWriter Hmm good point, he hasn’t got seal or ring, but one can always claim it fell off in the fight.
Sacre Bleu is as far as I know a French expression meant as a cry of surprise or anger. LINK

Indeed, time will tell if it would have been smarter not to pretend to be the Duke

As for them seeing it at night, well this ambush was well prepared so it is safe to say that had been watching the wagons for several hours and they must have seen it in daylight, also I think the Cardinal might have given them some “help” he probably made a rumour that he would use that road and then made sure the correct persons got to hear the rumour.
As for the Frenchmen not seeing it… That was something I actually didn’t consider… But for the sake of the story let us say they were to busy to notice it or that they might have thought it was there to make the journey easier as much people would move away seeing the cardinal approach.
I guess he might think that the Duke knows French, but I guess they think they can never know when it comes to Englishmen To put it like this, they are not thieves, at least not in the usual meaning of the word… I think freedom fighters are a better word or as the Cardinal would put it: rebels and traitors….

All I am afraid there will be no update tonight. I have an important paper that I need to finish and it looks like it will take more time than I had thought, so I am unable to write an update for this. But the story will go on, hopefully tomorrow. So in the mean time, take care

Lord E: ... GhostWriter: ...Sacre Bleu is as far as I know a French expression meant as a cry of surprise or anger.

OK, i ran this by my wife, who used to be fluent in French. the literal translation is "Sacred Blue", which btw i suspected was the case. she said that an English equivalent could be "Good Grief!" or "Oh my God!" the wikipedia states that blue indicates evil "has happened." in our context, i suspect that those Huguenots were/are afraid because of how they have treated the "Duke of Buckingham", their "Ally" ! !

if i understood the wikipedia correctly, the Bleu (Blue in English) was changed from Dieu so as to refrain from taking the name of Dieu in vain.

Lord E: ...Indeed, time will tell if it would have been smarter not to pretend to be the Duke

totally agree ! ! even so, once the Huguenot Duke states his identity, Richard has a ready and believable explanation: he thought they were thieves and did not want to disclose his identity ! ! after all, even Huguenots can be thieves ! !

Lord E: ...make a rumour that he would use that road and then made sure the correct persons got to hear the rumour..that they might have thought it was there to make the journey easier as much people would move away seeing the cardinal approach.

that makes sense ! !

Lord E: ...they are not thieves...

youtell that to Richard ! !

Lord E: ...All: I am afraid there will be no update tonight...

worse things could happen. so, you do a good paper ! ! and, we all will be happier when you are better able to write ! !

B an 0:-), make someone happy, :-) GhostWriter :-)

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in." . . . - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Berlin, 1961

"Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." - not sure

It will be interesting to see what Richard can find out as Duke of Buckingham. Though I wonder why they were not already shocked that the prisoner could not speak French if they thought they had the Cardinal.

coz1: It will be interesting to see what Richard can find out as Duke of Buckingham.

that's for sure ! !

coz1: Though I wonder why they were not already shocked that the prisoner could not speak French if they thought they had the Cardinal.

they probably were shocked that the prisoner could not speak French.

that said, they had some good clues that they didnot have the Cardinal ! !

first, some woman was in that wagon with the Duke. i am sure that (eventually) the Huguenots realized that the Cardinal would not be running around France with a hooker in the carriage... also, that explains why they had no interest in the Queen...

second, i suspect that the Duke's clothes are a different colour than the Cardinal's clothes, something that may not have been evident in the dark. additionally, it makes sense that when they realized that they did not have the Cardinal they were really perplexed.

third, the prisoner's inability to speak French almost guaranteed that they did not capture the Cardinal...

hmmm. because Richard did not 'speak' French, the Huguenots probably were in a quandary as to who they really had. and, this probably is what saved Richard's life. once they 'realized'/'assumed' that he only spoke English, i suspect that they figured that they had captured a non-Catholic - which equals friend any way they spell it... obviously, if i am right on this, they did not feel secure enough about Richard to free him from the tree.

B an 0:-), make someone happy, :-) GhostWriter :-)

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in." . . . - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Berlin, 1961

"Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." - not sure

GhostWriter Seems like your wife summed it up pretty well I think
As for Richard I think he will be able to talk his way out of the situation if he needs to.
As for the paper it is ready, and not it is only a matter of spell checking it before I can hand it in.

J. Passepartout As for now I think as you say story wise it is developing nice and that is the most important after all

coz1 I think he will learn a lot. Also I actually think they knew they didn’t have the Cardinal the moment they watch him closely in daylight… I am guessing most people know the Cardinal when they see him

GhostWriter I think you have summed it up very nice, better than I could do actually. All those reason are indeed correct and very wise so I think we can say that sounds like how they reacted to it all

Rensslaer He He glad to see someone noticed…rabbitzez
Well I think that in as for now they would believe anyone speaking English to be the Duke if he said sow, I think it has something to do with dreaming about a person for a long time and then when you meet one who say he is that person you thinks so highly of the person and you need him so much that you wouldn’t believe that anyone would not tell the truth..

All I am sorry that I was unable to update yesterday. Something came up and I had to go out and take care of some business instead of write an update. But now I am back and I am finishing the next update now, so it should be posted within the next 15 minutes…